Ros Bowden, interviewer and broadcaster with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, worked in the Radio National Social History Unit and on the 'Coming Out Show'. Between 1977 and 1989 she conducted interviews for various radio programs broadcast on the ABC.

Scope and Content

1984; 'Australian Women's Land Army', a series of interviews recorded for the 'Coming Out Show'.

Interview with Mrs Harry Bonney, 1987. Bonney talks about her solo flights from the United Kingdom to Australia and South Africa prior to 1939 (Call No.: CY MLOH 304/8)

Interview with Paddy Pallin, 9 Aug. 1988. Pallin, aged 87, talks about bushwalking; the days before good bushwalking equipment was available; making his own sewing machine; and establishing the Paddy Pallin shops. (Call No.: CY MLOH 304/9)

Interview with Winifred Hilliard, ca.1985. Hilliard, a deaconess at Ernabella Aboriginal Community in South Australia for many years, talks about her work. (Call No.: CY MLOH 304/10)

1977; 'Work of Equal Value', a series of four programmes dealing with women's work throughout Australian history.

Interview with Harriette Peterson. Peterson discusses her working life as a domestic. (Call No.: CY MLOH 304/24)

Interview with Daisy Wackett. Wackett talks about being a housewife at the turn of the twentieth century. (Call No.: CY MLOH 304/25 and CY MLOH 304/30 and CY MLOH 304/36)

Interview with Beatrice Taylor who began her teaching career in 1911. (Call No.: CY MLOH 304/25 and CY MLOH 304/36)

Interview with Zoe O'Leary. O'Leary talks about growing up during the depression of the 1930s. (Call No.: CY MLOH 304/26-29)
Interview with Ruth Higgins. Higgins talks about the depression of the 1930s. (Call No.: CY MLOH 304/31)

Interview with Eileen Powell. (Call No.: CY MLOH 304/32-35)

Interview with Kath Buckley about her work during World War II. (Call No.: CY MLOH 304/37-38)

Interview with Madina Douglas. Douglas discusses her work as a nurse during World War I. (Call No.: CY MLOH 304/39-40)

Interview with Edna Woolcock. Woolcock talks about the depression of the 1930s, and life as the mother of five children. (Call No.: CY MLOH 304/41-43)

Interview with Mary Gwynne. Gwynne, aged 92, talks about life as a housewife at the turn of the twentieth century. (Call No.: CY MLOH 304/44-47)

1987-1988; 'Between Two Laws'. Interviews used to compile four programs about the Patrol Officers of the Northern Territory who were responsible for the administration of Aboriginal Communities prior to 1972.

1978; Interview with Helen Moyes recorded for 'Coming Out Show'. Helen Moyes discusses her activities as a suffragist in England prior to World War I. (Call No.: CY MLOH 304/97-100)

ca.1975; Interview with Harold Merson. Merson discusses his life as a young jackaroo; mentions seeing Hudson Fysh on an early flight. (Call No.: CY MLOH 304/101-105)

1978; Interview with Ruby Rich. Recorded for the 'Coming Out Show'. Rich discusses her activities as a feminist in Sydney. (Call No.: CY MLOH 304/106-109)

1981; 'Australian Women Flyers', interviews conducted for a radio program on women flyers prior to World War II. The women discuss being unable to continue flying during World War II due to fuel rationing; being unable to continue flying after the war due to family committments; and being unable to get jobs flying after the war because they were given to returned servicemen.

1977; Interviews with Captain Morton Moyes. Moyes went to the Antarctic with Mawson in 1912. He talks about his Antarctic experience; about his childhood; about his working life in the Australian Navy; about his involvement in establishing the naval college at Jervis Bay. (Call No.: CY MLOH 304/114-117; also digital copy available - ask the Curator of Oral History)

1988-1989; 'Jessie Street the Disappearing Heroine', interviews used to compile a two part program made to commemorate the anniversary of Jessie Street's birth. Interviews conducted with people who knew Jessie Street during her various campaigns.

1988; 'Croker Island Evacuated', interviews conducted for two programs about a group of Aboriginal children and four white women who escaped from Croker Island, north of Arnhem land, after Darwin was bombed during World War II. They travelled to the mainland by boat, walked to the Oenpelli mission, then to Pine Creek where they caught a train to Sydney, arriving in Sydney at the time that midget Japanese submarines bombed Sydney Harbour.

1983; 'Government Property', interviews for a radio program concerning Aboriginal people in the Broken Hill and Wilcannia area. The interviews were later published on cassette for schools, accompanied by notes for teachers. (Call No.: CY MLOH 304/135-139)

1986; 'Being Aboriginal', interviews used to compile six programs profiling six different aboriginal communities. The series won the inaugural Human Rights Award for a Radio Documentary in 1987. In 1990 the ABC published a book 'Being Aboriginal', which included material from some of the programs. The six programs were: 'Without Artists there is no Culture' - Eora Centre, Sydney'; 'The White Man Says We Have No History' - Brewarrina NSW; 'The Spirit of Musgrave Park' - Brisbane; 'Learning Two Ways' - Yipirinya School, Alice Springs; 'Raised to Think White' - Aboriginal children brought up in white families.